Hindus generally take one or more of four positions in answer to this question.
Position 1: There were multiple Buddhas (as indeed is explicitly true according to Buddhism as well). If there was a Buddha who rejected the Vedas, he was not the Buddha who was an avatar.
Position 2: Buddha did not reject the Vedas. Lots of Hindu teachers ignore the Vedas when it comes to their own spiritual teachings and practices. Buddha may have been one of these, but many Hindus do not trust the accuracy of Buddhist texts which say that Buddha actually denied the spiritual validity and correctness of the Vedas. No Buddhist texts were written down until several centuries after Buddha’s actual life and teachings.
Position 3: Buddha lied in order to trick certain ancient evil people out of using the magical rites and powers in the Vedas, and to help bring about their downfall. I think this position is rare among Hindus today, but it was actually quite common in olden times.
Position 4: Buddha was not an avatar. The Harivansha, many Puranas (Skanda, Agni, Padma, Vishnu, Bhagavata, Naradiya, Linga, Garuda, and Bhavishya), and Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra all state that he was, but all of these are Smriti texts, not Shruti, and thus fallible; orthodox Hindus are free to disagree with them.
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